The
harassment and the pressure against the transvestite (TS) and transexual (TV) community
has always been present in Turkey, but for the last 12 months the intensity and the
frequency of it has been increasing.

A 65-year old woman has moved
to the Ulker Street a year ago, called Ms. Güngör (Guengoer), has been provoking all
actions against TV/TS community. She has big support from the police and extremist right
wing party members or organizations; radical Islamists and Nationalists.

For the couple of first months
she was very friendly to and with the girls who have been living in the area for more than
20 years. She has bought some flats for very cheap prices and rented them to the girls
with the normal rates. After a while she started to demand enormous amounts like
increasing the rents from 20 million to 100 million TL. The girls refused to pay these
rates as it is stated in the contract law that the owners are only permitted to increase
the rent 60% maximum. This is the point where everything started to go down for the girls.

She has initiated a campaign
of "cleaning operation". She with her neighbours placed a desk to the street
with patrols in charge to control the area day and night. She covered her head to gain
support from extremist Islamists and from their organizations. She was not satisfied with
the results. A few months ago she started a campaign of labelling called "Hang a
Turkish Flag if you are not homosexual". She aimed to gain support from the extremist
Nationalists and she did. The organizations called "Ülkü (Uelkue) Ocaklari",
the youth branches of extremist right wing party MHP, took part on her side. They joined
the harassment process with the premise that the homosexuals are not excepted as Turkish.
They don't belong to the race since they represent a lower form of human beings. This was
told to a university student who was making a market research for an assignment.

One of the biggest support
came from Mr. Süleyman (Sueleyman) Ulusoy who was chief of the Beyoglu Police Department
until 1991. He came back to duty just before UN Human Settling Conference, Habitat II. Not
only he fights against homosexuals but against street children, street peddlers and
gypsies as well.

Before the above mentioned
conference, the police warned the TV/TS community to leave the conference area. They were
warned that if they remained to stay in their houses they would be in danger. To pretend
to keep the area clean, a massive cleaning operation was started before the conference.
Lots of stray dogs and cats, street children and peddlers were forced to move on to the
different areas.

Then the cleaning operation
started to get serious. A house, which belongs to one of the transsexuals who lives in the
street, was set on fire, allegedly, by the police. She applied to the Attorney Generalship
for a legal action but she couldn't get any response for two months. She has started a
petition but Mr. Ulusoy didn't give any official statement. The Damage Commission affirmed
the damage as 300 million TL. Though it was 2 months ago there is no result at the moment.
Meanwhile, Ms. Demet Demir and other TV/TS started several petitions but couldn't get any
response neither. Moreover, another four houses has been set on fire since, in another
district of Beyoglu, but nobody applied for any legal action since they were scared and
they knew through the previous example that their attempts would have been futile even if
they had tried. Ilhami Kaya is another TV who lives in the street who has a similar
experience in which the windows of her house smashed down with stones thrown. Ms. Demet
Demir's front door has been broken for 3 times and the telephone cables were cut to
prevent her from informing the solicitors and/or the press.

At this point I feel the urge
to state that homosexuality is not illegal in Turkey. There is no law in force in the
constitution against homosexual acts. On the other hand, torture is illegal. The current
situation is ironically ridiculous when these points are highlighted. Though this is the
case Ms. Demet Demir got a criminal record which states illegal demonstration. She stayed
in the jail for 8 months. After 10 years all criminal records are normally deleted. Her
record still exists after 14 years to everybody's surprise.

The police are breaking the
doors with hammers and axes, forcing their way in to the houses to cause the most damage
that they can. At times if they find occupancy in the house they take the person to the
station to keep them under detention. A person can be kept under detention only for 48
hours the most. The police's practical solution for this is to transfer the person to
another station so that they can keep somebody for more than a week if they want to do so.
The police raid the houses and the clubs to arrest. You show your ID but it is not
sufficient enough. There are lots of means to an arrest in Turkey and the police forces
are well prepared to teach you these means.

TV/TS community are
continously accused of prostitution and raping young boys. They are seen as potential
criminals. In the year 1994 and 1995, just before the World AIDS Day the clubs were raided
to bash the TV/TSs since they are believed to be the cause for AIDS. This is a very
vicious cycle. Since they are seen as potential danger, criminal and always as immoral
they are forced out of the society. They don't have any means to live properly. They end
up on the streets as prostitutes as this is the only thing they are permitted. If they can
do this it means that there is demand as well. Then everybody becomes ethical activists
when it is time to blame them, but they never talk about whom they slept with the night
before.

The current situation is that
the TV/TS community in this area is reduced to 7 from 70. They are left with only one
solution as a consequence: to move. The clean water supplier on the street was closed down
with the reason that it didn't have any license. You start to ask how it was permitted in
the first place then. The newsagent was closed down with threats as well. The hair-dresser
was closed down because it was, allegedly, used as a whorehouse. All these closing downs
were done by the local council of Beyoglu. Any clever person can not deny the question:
"Were these places closed down because they were serving to the TV/TS community
living in the area?".

Everything that is going on
around the street has to be done in secret as a result. For example, during Habitat
Conference a foreign TV channel was having an interview with Ms. Demet Demir in her house.
It is at this point the police broke into her house. The reporter hid the tapes and
cameras otherwise they would have been taken away. Police was so determined to take them
to the station but couldn't have done it because Mr. Tugrul Erbaydar from AIDS Prevention
Society told this group of policemen that they were having a meeting about AIDS.

In the beginning of December
one of the transexuals named Ece was beaten up by the police because she couldn't manage
to be secret enough. Although she has a house in the street she can not live there. She
comes in secret to feed her dog. The last time her neighbour heard her coming and phoned
the police. She was caught in her apartment. She was beaten up first in the street and
then in the police station. She was beaten up so badly that her legs was bruised even
after a week.

Mr. Süleyman Ulusoy has a
nickname which is "Hose Süleyman". He likes to beat, especially to the head,
with plastic hose pipes and this is where his nickname comes from. There are several files
in the Human Rights Association regarding these tortures. Cutting the hair, pumping
pressurized cold water, beating bullocks are the most common of these tortures in the
police stations.